Brokenly Beautiful
by Sombereyes
Summary: Her spirit, though tarnished, could never be snapped in two.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: A requested fiction from someone who wanted to remain anonymous. This takes place a few years after the events of volume three. This fiction contains an outlook on what might become of a darker, more cynical Yang, after losing her arm. Chapter length and post frequency depends on the requester alone, although I do hope you all enjoy the work as well.

 **Summary:** Her spirit, though tarnished, could never be snapped in two.

 **Brokenly Beautiful**

One week of trudging through the thick forests had landed her to this location. Long sought after, and difficult to get to, she was finally able to say she had done the impossible. She had located the ever complicated, impossible to track down, Yang Xiao Long. The feat was one to be recorded in history, because the bombastic blonde was nothing if not elusive. Weiss Schnee had finally done it though, finding the woman in a rundown hovel that couldn't even be called a cottage.

She placed the bundle of supplies down, hiding them amongst the trees. It was only then that Weiss let herself take a breath. Peace of mind was only a view away. Without any guilt, she basked in the sight of her long time friend. A sight for sore, tired eyes.

Yang had a way about her, cigarette hanging out of her mouth, her one good hand cradling a beer. She sat on the front porch barefoot, the bottoms of her feet blackened by dirt as they rested upon a wooden support beam. She was a far cry from the person that had attended Beacon. A handful of years had changed her, and yet, there was nothing more beautiful than that sharp edgy look that dared to cut through the softness of any soul.

That playful smirk Weiss easily recalled had been abandoned, a smug one took its place. The light in lilac eyes had dimmed. There was a wildness to blonde hair as it framed her face and ran down shoulders like waves of yellow silk. Free. Untamed. Entirely and completely at the mercy of the wind that dragged on by gently.

In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, the woman still remained the embodiment of strength. Her orange wife beater and grey cargo pants were made for combat. Somehow, that further drove the point home. Yang was different now. No less beautiful, but, not the person she once was. Even her weapon, though dented, was still every bit as deadly as it rested on her wrist, waiting to be used.

With the kind of snarky reply that only come from the ex-terror of the campus herself, Yang slowly pulled the cigarette out of her mouth. "Well, well, well, still into those combat skirts I see. What's the matter, Weiss, hasn't that ass of yours filled out yet?"

Weiss found the image before her fitting, even if she couldn't say the same of Yang's sour personality. "That's it, it's finally happened." The wealthy woman scolded. "You've turned into your uncle."

Yang looked down at herself, shrugged, and drained the last of her beer, before drawing deep from her smoke. "Don't know how you can say that. I'm still rocking a hard core rack."

"Nice to see you're still a pervert." Weiss pointed out distantly as she crossed the stairs that had seen better days. A running theme of the house, and its owner. By the looks of it, this single bedroom home wasn't so much quaint, as much as completely minimalistic. It even lacked a toilet, and the nearest thing to a bath was the freezing lake that was a good distance away. "Really, Yang, why are you out here?"

"Seemed like the right thing to do."

And in that once simple statement, all of the memories flooded forward. A loaded story that only the members of team RWBY understood. It came to the forefront of both of their minds. Whether or not they'd done the right things, whether or not they continued to do so, it didn't seem to matter. Not anymore. Their old team had fractured, splintering in four different, and complicated directions.

"Be that as it may, you are wrong." Weiss pulled off her hat slowly, letting the afternoon sun grace her face for the first time. "Unequivocally wrong, if I do say so myself."

A bitter laugh, and a dirty little smirk later had Yang standing from her place. "Been wrong about a lot of things."

"Indeed..." Weiss said, the word thick on the air. She let her eyes take in the sight of this woman once more. Yang's arm was still a stub, and even though Weiss knew the reason why, it was still so off-putting. She could only assume living a life one-handed was torture. "You still refuse a prosthetic too, I see. I'll admit, I expected better of you."

"Is that all you came here for, Schnee?" Yang asked. "To bitch at me?"

"So very much like your uncle." Weiss muttered, having dealt with the man more than she cared to in recent years. "And yet, so very stupid." Weiss considered herself a calm, logical, and loyal human being. She also allowed herself the luxury of a vicious temper. Pulling the beer bottle that was empty from Yang's hand, she chucked it, watching it smash into tiny bits along the graveled pavement. "I came because when a Schnee invites you to a wedding, they do so under the implication that you will, in fact, attend!"

"It was none of my concern." Yang shrugged.

"None of your concern?" That concept was so utterly alien, that Weiss balked.

"That's right." Yang said, grabbing the bottle of whiskey that she kept sitting on the porch. She bit the cork off, and spit it to the side, swigging from the dusty glass bottle. "My uncle didn't need someone like me around on his most important day. Hell, your sister doesn't like me either, so win-win. They got hitched, and I got the hell out of their way."

"What happened to you?" Weiss asked, beyond words at this point. "Last I heard, you were enjoying life back home in Patch, and instead I find you here. In some backwater forest in no-man's land."

"Wanted it that way…"

You're a full week away from civilization!"

"Keeps people off my back."

"And out of your life." Weiss protested. "When was the last time you even spoke to your sister?"

Yang didn't say a word, leaning heavily on the wooden railing. That accursed whiskey bottle still in her hand, and upon her lips in that silent moment.

"That's what I thought." Weiss sighed at the prolonged drag. She had known that the sisters had fallen out of contact, but assumed it was because of Ruby. The woman couldn't keep still long enough to maintain any sort of contact. With Yang's reclusive behavior on top of it, Weiss had figured they'd lost touch. Now, she was sure, it was Yang avoiding being found. "Blake came back, by the way."

"Rutting with Sun?" Yang asked viciously, the bite in her tone so deep and full of pain it was unavoidable. She hated that name, hated what it meant, what it proved without a shadow of a doubt.

"Ruby actually…"

What was left of fractured resolve cracked under the weight of that implication, and Yang saw red. Not red like fire and fury, but something equally as rage inducing and blindsiding. "You're shitting me."

"No…Yang, I'm not." Weiss murmured quietly. "That's why I've been looking for you."

"To piss me off?!"

"To get help!" Weiss shouted. "Grimm have been showing up more and more in the large cities. Hunters and huntresses all over are gathering to disperse them as much as they can, but it's a loosing battle. We weren't aware of how bad it was until Blake decided to show up spitting nails and joining the fray. Ruby decided now is a good a time as any to put the old team back together. I'll admit, I was skeptical at first…but…"

"So Blake's fucking my little sister…"

"I'm not here merely to speculate the nocturnal activities of my former teammates." Weiss protested, the depth of her words carrying the undertone she was aiming for. "I'm here to tell you to get off of your sorry butt and get back to fighting. We need able-bodied warriors, and we need them now."

"Do I look able-bodied to you?" Yang asked, gesturing to the stump she once considered her arm. "I'm not the fighter I used to be, and I'm happy right where I am."

"You can feel sorry for yourself again later, but now is not the time." Weiss said, as she slapped the glass jug out of the alcoholic's hand. "We _need_ you, Yang…"

It was at the point that the world seemed to stop to a screeching halt. What was peeking around some of the thick shrubbery was none other than a figment of Yang's imagination. "Please tell me that isn't what I think it is…" Yang all but growled.

"She's exactly what you think she is." Weiss sighed with a shake of her head. She turned to address the one that had followed her. "I thought I told you to stay back at the campsite young lady."

"Wasn't going to happen." The girl called back, as she jogged up to the home and at the foot of the stairs. "Yo." She smirked, waving to the blonde in front of her.

"Shit…" Yang felt a migraine coming on. "I'm entirely too sober for this."

"This little ball of trouble is your niece." The explanation left much to be desired. As Yang gave her a look as if she had grown a second head, Weiss clarified. "Adopted niece, I should say. Ruby found her during a skirmish in Patch."

"I'll be eight in June." The girl chirped as one ear atop her head flicked in excitement.

"Leave it to Ruby to pick up stray cats." Yang observed with an upraised eyebrow. She knew the sentiment was a little crass, but it was hardly like Weiss could blame her.

"Dog…" The girl corrected her.

"Makes even more sense." Yang sighed, giving a Weiss a look. If it could kill, would have done so several times over. "Get inside…"

The living area was emptier than Weiss thought it would be. They'd walked in, but the world seemed that much colder, abrasive and unreachable for Yang. Cobwebs among the corners, mouse holes in a rafter or two. This place was no more than a filthy cave, Yang's shoes by the door and a pair of rolled up socks told Weiss that the woman wasn't as completely uncivilized as she made herself out to be. Still, the rugs of animal skins was unsettling enough.

Weiss cursed under her breath, licking her lips, and feeling the tangible ache of destruction all around her. It wasn't the broken down cities, the fallen kingdoms, or even the collapsed powers of those aforementioned homes. It was the indestructible powerhouse in front of her. Truth be told, they were utterly human, utterly crushable, and Yang had been…in more ways than one.

What stood before her now, was evidence of that destruction.

Yang had slammed the door and locked it tightly, meandering around to do the same to the window. "So when did it happen?" Yang asked as she dunked a pot into a barrel of water. All but tossing it over some coals none too gently, hearing the condensation hiss and sizzle, she regarded Weis once more. "Why is this a thing?"

"You'd have to ask Ruby and Blake that." Weiss murmured with a shrug. "I didn't ask those kinds of questions."

"Horse shit…"

"I didn't have the time to do so."

"Maybe you should have found the time." Yang relented her anger for a second. An instinct long forgotten came slowly bubbling to the surface. "Where in the hell is my sister, Weiss?"

"Fighting, last I heard of her. She and Blake were headed beyond Atlas boarders." Weiss couldn't fathom how bad the fighting had gotten. "They're not alone. Nora and Ren are with them. My home is like a stronghold, so she was left in my care."

"Oh, I get it…" Yang smirked bitterly then. "You don't really need a fighter, you just need a babysitter."

"Is that really what you think?"

"I don't need to think it, I know it."

"I knew Ruby shouldn't have listened to you." Weiss could see it so clearly now, like a forgotten mutt on the roadside that had been kicked too hard, and for too long. "She said you needed a little bit of space, and that was fine…but this…" Yang was that sordid creature now, a sorry excuse for what she should have been. Her speed had become intense, her clout even more so, and Weiss had gone on long enough taking the verbal abuse that she had come to expect.

With a force she never expected to use on an old friend, she flung Yang hard into the adjoining wall. As expected, Yang took the blow as if it was nothing. For a woman like Yang, it _was_ nothing. Brick crumbled to the floor, but Yang stayed steady on her feet, hunched forward, a sloppy but dangerous stance, as if she was ready to brawl. She shook the soot out of her hair a moment later. "Don't screw with me, Schnee."

"You're a fighter, Yang." Weiss rebuked with such a cold undertone, it could have frozen hell itself over. "That's what I need."

The blonde could only chuckle as she spat blood. "You need a reality check."

"Look in the mirror and say that." They were nose to nose again, and the youngest Schnee daughter found herself unbearably close to danger itself. There was a thrill to that, something sensual and exciting when it came to provoking such a person. "I require someone who can take a few hits. Dish them back out. I need you, so are you in, or are you out."

"Out…" Yang replied as she grabbed the now squealing tea kettle from the coals below.

…

It was not enough for Weiss, who then refused to leave the blonde's home.

Weiss could continue to pester her, but Yang had no more interest in fighting, she didn't have a reason to do it. She had made herself a new home, and a different future. It wasn't the one she expected, or the one she'd thought she'd live. Changing her ways had never been something Yang could do easily, because as flighty as she was, her spirit had always yanked her in one direction or another.

Over time, it had merely yanked her away from everything, and everyone, who might have mattered.

Yang was loyal to a fault though, as wild as she was, and she couldn't very well just kick Weiss out. She had wanted to, but for all of her inherited and learned abrasiveness, she just wasn't that cruel. None of her family could be, not at the end of the day. Even Yang's own mother, who harbored less than average maternal instinct, was still inclined on some level to look after her own kin…even if that meant doing so from a distance, vicariously through the eyes of others.

"The Grimm come out in waves at night." Yang said as she kept an eye on the window. Several of them made homes in the trees, perching there like old friends. "Keep the kid away from the windows."

"She reminds me of you, you know." Weiss said later that night over her countless cup of tea. It was the only way to really keep warm as the night's chill set in.

Yang said nothing to this, hot air spilling from her nose in annoyance. She continued to smoke, to sit there and look at the girl curled up under a tattered blanket in the firelight.

"She's smart-mouthed, gets into trouble…inquisitive…no one's able to hold her down for long…" Weiss trailed off then.

Still, Yang said nothing, and Weiss feared that Yang might never speak to her.

"She's a close combat fighter too. Little kick boxer, if she had a good teacher to show her the ropes, she'd be unstoppable…" Weiss pressed then, praying that some part of what she had to say might click. She never had asked Ruby why they kept the girl with them, it was just a natural little thing. Second nature. Weiss had began to understand why though, slowly, with each passing day. This girl was a lot like Yang used to be. Undaunted, easy to be with. Dutiful, yet rebellious.

Hard lives didn't get people like them down…not until it was too much to bear.

Yang moved, quite by surprise to even herself as she hauled the sleeping soon-to-be eight year old in her arm, using her brute strength as leverage. The girl slept like a rock too, apparently, because she didn't move. Dead weight in Yang's grasp, as Yang plopped the sleeping girl into the only bed the home contained.

It was that simple gesture, as uncomplicated as it was, that made a lump difficult to swallow.

Weiss tried, dearly, but she found that action impossible. Instead, she choked back a rough sob. For just that one tiny moment, the Yang she remembered had returned…but she was gone again in a blink of an eye. Guzzling down more booze, Yang went back to sitting near the fire.

"Make a pun, Yang." Weiss begged. "Please…just one stupid little pun."

"Don't have it in me." Yang instead gave the heiress a bored look, her arm resting across her knee. "If things are as bad as you say they are, then don't you think you have better things you should be doing? I've already given you my answer."

"And I've told you…it's not good enough." Weiss replied, her voice wavering between despair and determination. "I'm not leaving without you."

"That so?" Yang muttered with half a growl. A dirty little smirk found her lips. If Weiss was going to be that way about it, she might as well have a little fun. "Hope you like the wilderness, princess. You'll be stuck here a long time if you keep your word."

"Yang..."

"I'm not leaving, so just get over it..."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: A short bridge chapter of sorts. A proper chapter coming up after the requester and I exchange a few more e-mails back and forth. Then I can continue properly. Until then though, I didn't want to leave this story completely unattended. I thought this would be a fitting addition to continue the first evening they share together.

 **Brokenly Beautiful  
Part 2**

Weiss knew sleeping was out of the question for her. She was too busy sorting out key bits of detail, trying to understand how to crack that complicated exterior that bound the blonde to her stubbornness. It was probably uncouth to say it, but, Yang had the temper of a rabid dog. Quick to bite back at the first person to get too close. Her injury was part and parcel of the reason for Yang's bad attitude, but it wasn't the only reason.

Blake might have been partly to blame, but that wasn't it either. There was something else. Something purely sentimental, and in no way cased by one of their peers. The only problem was, Weiss couldn't figure out what that drastic change had been...or if it was really that drastic of a change at all. Sour temperaments did happen to run in Yang's blood, if Qrow could be any indication.

What drove Yang?

The firelight was haunting. Yang's rough beauty flicking among those flames, dancing shadows across her form all the more deadly. Whispers of ghosts long gone. Regret and history mingling all because of those cold lilac eyes. That scowl, full of longing and despair…or was it greed and rage? Weiss couldn't be sure, but she was drawn in by the conundrum. Her mind trying to put the fractured pieces back together so that she could do the same with words.

But, there were no words for this.

Only senseless emotion. Instinct. Long held intuition, practiced and revered. There wasn't anything more or less than that in Yang's actions. It was all pure. Distilled instinct that was wild, and not unlike a Grimm itself. Weiss let herself gasp at her own implication.

 _That_ was the resemblance.

"What?" Yang asked, those cold eyes flicking towards Weiss.

"Think nothing of it." The wealthy huntress said calmly. Pulling back any and all shock.

What was it about foul moods, and Grimm? Moreover, why did Grimm seem to like Yang? Weiss was in many ways a pragmatist, but even she found herself completely baffled as Grimm lined the trees and resting in the grass. They landed on the roof and relaxed along the porch. She was even more alarmed as a small Grimm came pawing at the door, looking for something, or more aptly, someone.

"Yang…" Weiss noted quite unhappily when a tiny paw clawed its way under the crack in the door. "That's an ursa…" Where there was a cub, a mother was sure to follow.

"No shit." Yang muttered, opening the door as the little creature scampered in. The little monster made itself happy ripping into one of the wicker chairs. Smacking her thigh, she called the creature to her side, patting it none too gently before going back to her drinking.

"There is a Grimm laying at your feet, and you don't even care?"

Yang looked down. "Nope…"

In fact, she went so far as to use the demonic cub as a footrest. Truly a sight to behold, Weiss had never seen a tame Grimm. They were hostile by nature, and yet, this creature, one normally issued a death warrant on sight, cub or not, proceeded to lick at its master's toes. Yang bopped it atop the forehead in reprimand.

"It's a monster." Weiss whispered, more to herself than Yang.

Yang paused in her watch of the firelight. She let the words sink into the air. Then she smirked, shaking her head. "You're as blind as the rest of the world, if that's what you think." Fumbling with a cigarette and a lighter, Yang inhaled deeply. "Time to get real, princess."

Her next words were caressed in smoke.

"They're like kindred spirits, I think. Looking for more of their own, I guess I'm one of them. Never had an issue with Grimm around here, don't think it'll happen suddenly." She noticed the look of complete disgust and elaborated. "I'm not saying that they aren't deadly. A cub this size could take down an average adult male without trying." She wasn't afraid of it though. Of death by its hands. Partly, she waited for it, and she suspected that inherent darkness was what granted her immunity from the sordid creature at her feet. "All I'm saying is, I trust it not to kill me."

"And when it gets older?" Weiss asked. "What then? For all you know, that…that _thing_ could rip your other hand off the next time you try to pet it."

"Could." Yang shrugged. "It's a wild creature of Grimm. No tellin' what it'll do."

" _Yang!"_

"Eh, no biggie." Yang said with a shrug. "Negativity brings them around, but thinking that every Grimm hates people, that's just stupid." She knocked back another swig of booze. "Like saying all Faunus are just dirty animals. Extremist views like that, that's what gets people killed." Then her voice darkened. "It isn't the Grimm."

"What in the hell happened to you?" Weiss asked, confused, hurt. "You were never like this."

Yang just gave her a look. "I don't hate my life. Believe it or not, it's nice here."

"There are Grimm making nests on your roof!" Weiss barked, hearing the Faunus child stir, she lowered her voice. "This is no place for a human to live. This forest is made for Grimm. It's their habitat, not yours. You belong with people, your friends and family."

Yang chucked a pillow in the woman's face. "Go to sleep, stop trying to figure me out. You're never going to be able to."

Weiss knew as soon as the threat came, that little sleep would come to her. It was merely her way to spend many a restless night hunched over her desk, scrawling her signature and calling influential people. It had been so long since she'd spent time as a proper huntress that as much as she missed it, she also loathed it. A handful of years ago, and she would have happily slept in worse conditions than Yang's rustic, though messy abode.

She tossed and turned, watching Yang, as the blonde watched the stars.

Weiss faded in and out of sleep, but it wasn't relaxed. Her ears perked at every noise, her body ready to spring forward in a moment's notice. Finally, when it all seemed for naught, she heard Yang begin to meander about. She cracked one icy blue eye open. "What are you doing?"

"Gearing up."

She could see that. "I mean, why are you doing what you happen to be doing?"

"You wanna eat?" Yang asked her roughly.

"Well, yes." Weiss allowed as the fog of sleep left her. "But I've got rations for that."

"Rations aren't food." Yang, armed to the teeth kept the one thing on her that Weiss never expected. A gun. It was a revolver type, dust on the inside chamber, loaded and ready. However, Yang's own gauntlet still remained equipped. "Not a food I'd eat anymore. So, if I wanna eat, I gotta go get food." Checking her gear, and grabbing her flask, she gave her ex-teammate a cocky little grin. "Stay put, or leave. Your choice, but if you leave, don't go getting lost."

Aggravated, Weiss followed quickly after. "Oh no you don't Yang Xiao Long! You're not going anywhere without me. I can't trust that you don't have more hideouts like this in other places." Grabbing her jacket, she followed after in the morning mist. "I'm not tracking you down again."

Yang just looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Suit yourself, just don't blame me when I actually shoot something."


	3. Chapter 3

**Brokenly Beautiful  
Part 3**

The forests were always so strange in the early morning before the sun hit the sky. Even after, when the faintest glow glistened through the sap and dew on the trees, Weiss had always found the forests unsettling. As if the monsters lurking beyond were always one step ahead of her. Paranoid thinking, perhaps. Still, safer to be overly worried, than to carelessly tromp through the thicket, underbrush, and countless small rivers that made up this particular section of uncharted territory.

The maps for this forest were hardly sound by any means. Many large segments went unrecorded due to the thick branches. It made televised satellite monitoring nearly impossible.

Yet another reason Yang likely picked this segment of forest to live in. Her presence would go by largely undetected, even if she were to make an awful racket with that gun of hers. Weiss didn't want to admit it to herself, but, there was something altogether sinister when it came to Yang's abilities. To the way the woman held the gun, took aim, and in one single blow murdered a woodland creature. It was all so...demonic.

Even the slow, predatory husk of breath that came afterward. Those perfectly white teethe of her gritted gently, as her powerful body relaxed. Gun holstered.

"I can't believe you just did that." Weiss mouthed, her voice at odds with her resolve to speak.

"Told you I was going to shoot something." White-hot steel in Yang's voice blocked the obvious emotion that Yang covered up. For food or not, she hated killing. She just hated giving up on her conviction even more. "If that freaks you out, better not look." She pulled out a blade. "It's about to get messy."

"I think I'm more than capable of handling a little blood, Yang." Weiss said, trying to sound confidant of that. "Never thought you'd have it in you to do this…" Then the blade met flesh, and wealthy woman turned her gaze away.

"Hunt or be hunted." Yang told her. "Comes with the title, anyway."

"That wasn't a Grimm."

"No, it wasn't." Yang spoke over her work, her voice drowning out the slices of her blade. "I'm not heartless…even I don't bash in the skulls of the innocent."

Weiss recalled the brawler's desire for battle. Yang loved long drawn-out fights. Tests of skill, endurance matches, and raw feats of brute strength. Or, at the very least, she used to. Sure, it could have been argued that Yang was just young, and had something to prove. Honestly, Weiss didn't think that was the case. She didn't believe that was what drove her friend. It was something else entirely.

So, seeing this deadly efficiency now, the carcass of a doe in front of her…it left much to be desired.

"Say what you will...there was once a time when asking you to kill anything would have resulted in practically starving." Weiss protested quietly. "Blake was the one willing to kill for meals, not you."

"Yeah, well that was then." Yang could easily remember the way she used to be. She didn't need the reminder. As a group, they were always happy to let the Faunus have that particular role. They merely ate whatever it was that she happened to catch, no questions asked. "This is here and now. Things changed, get used to it."

"Pardon my reservations." Weiss articulated coolly."You were squeamish about pulling hooks out of the mouths of fish…and now, you've turned to this."

"If you're going to just stand there and scowl at me, you might as well leave." Yang cleaned her meat in the most ass-backwards way that Weiss had ever seen. "Don't need you thinking I'm some sort of lunatic."

"That assumption, while amusing, wasn't what I was thinking at all." Weiss sighed, arms crossed. "I was merely wondering how you plan to gut an entire doe one-handed. I can't assume it'll be very easy."

"Who says I'm taking the entire doe?" Yang snapped gruffly. "No human needs that much meat, and there are other animals out here."

"Not to mention Grimm."

"Them too."

"They come looking for negativity, and death isn't exactly positive."

Bloody, sweaty, and annoyed, Yang looked up from her job. Lilac eyes testing the fragile waters between them. The words unsaid, but clearly there. "I wasn't asking for your approval, Weiss."

"Clearly, because I would never approve of this."

"I don't really give a shit."

"You never have."

Yang blinked at that, taken off guard by the softness of that statement. No less lacking in venom. No less harsh. Entirely and completely the sort of retort that would elicit silence. Not because Yang didn't have something to say, but because that tone was an indication. A judgement. A declaration. Scrutiny and resolve. One Weiss had made, and wouldn't easily retract.

There was only one other time that Yang had heard such a tone.

One so resigned, and so particular. So memorable, even now. Haunting, like an echo. _"The innocent never run, Yang."_ Spoken like a curse, when Weiss believed Blake was a traitor. That selfsame resigned little lilt had filled Yang's ears then too. Yang had nothing to say to it back then, either.

"And you know I'm right." Weiss continued. "That's the reason you can't even bite back at me. I wouldn't have said it, if it wasn't true. My statements have never truly mattered to you one way or the other."

Yang licked her lips, but kept silent. The fight wasn't worth it. Weiss wasn't sticking around anyway. She'd leave sooner or later, Yang was sure. Instead, she harvested the meat she needed, leaving the rest for whatever beast, animal or Grimm, to make a meal of the rest. She knew that by sundown there wouldn't be any doe left to speak of.

It was a mystery of this forest. A fact that the monsters here really did dwell deep in the shadows, away from humans. "Go home, Weiss. You've got better places to be."

"That remains to be seen." Weiss countered, watching blood drip from a bit of rolled up tarp that Yang carried. "You should know I do exactly what I want, precisely when I want to do it. It's the privilege of the nobles, you know."

"You can cut the haughty princess bullshit."

"Should I? That's all you seem to take me for these days. I might as well live up to the expectation."

"You wouldn't be the first on my shit list." Yang rolled her eyes at that. "I look at those cities, I see a bunch of entitled assholes who sleep safe and sound in their beds. They think it's their god given right to be that way. Then, I see hunters willing to keep up that facade. Letting everything think that way, it ain't noble. It's fucking stupid."

"We do what we must to keep the peace."

"Even when you lose people because of it." Yang shot back. "Grimm aren't so blood thirsty as all of that, else I'd be dead by now."

"They're still not safe to be around."

"Patch is on the outskirts of a huge Grimm infested forest, but it still stands…" Yang rebuked, the hard facts edging her voice forward. "When Grimm attack cities, people are normally the cause…ever think we're the monsters around here?"

"The thought has crossed my mind."

"Now you're just pissing in the wind. Not falling for it."

"No, it's true. I have thought about it." Weiss replied, her footfalls increasing. "I'm not so blindly devoted to a singular cause. I can see your point." She walked with Yang side by side. "My purview of the greater world isn't clouded by my longstanding goals." She gave Yang a sideways glance. "Given the recent events, it was something I considered at length."

"Then why fight a losing battle?"

"Simply because it's my fight to lose." Weiss told her. "If nothing else, I have my memories. I have the people that I care about. Those things are worth protecting. The price of that just so happens to be living in those so-called entitled cities. It means keeping the civilians blinded by what we know to be the truth."

"…you keep thinking that."

"It isn't as if you've cut all ties to the civilized world, Yang."

"A means to an end, that's all."

"Still reason enough to base your choices, is it not?"

"I don't follow…"

"If Ruby was facing her death, you'd be by her side in a heartbeat."

"She's my sister! That's different…"

"Is it really?"

"Weiss…don't you start that shit."

"She's encouraging the cities to be the way they are." Weiss knew she was walking a dangerous line, but, it was pure truth and little more. "Ruby isn't stupid, Yang. She knows she's lying through her teeth at every turn. She does it because she cares. Because she feels like she can make a difference…but at the end of the day, she's doing what you hate the most. She's keeping the civilians in the dark about the truth. She's sugar coating it, making it easier to swallow down, even as she slays Grimm left and right."

"She does that because it's the way she grew up." Yang bit out. "You put kid gloves on the kids, that's just how it works. You bear the brunt of the pain, so that the little guys don't have to. It doesn't make it right."

"She left her childhood behind the moment she entered Beacon. She left her innocence behind the day she watched Pyrrha die." A breath later, and she regarded the stump of Yang's arm. That was another tragedy that had darkened the younger sister's halo. "The only reason protects those cities is because she loves them, and what they represent to her."

"Then that's her cross to bear." Yang murmured darkly. "Not mine."

"No, but you certainly have one…" Weiss chided. "We all do…like it or not."

…

Yang was a lewd human being, Weiss knew this, and yet…

"Where is your sense of propriety?!" She shrieked as Yang started stripping down naked, right in front of her.

"Nothing you don't have…" Yang muttered over her shoulder, as she divested herself of her soiled clothing. She needed to wash herself off, it was that simple. "Or haven't seen already, actually."

"That was years ago." Weiss reminded her, as she turned her back on the blonde. "And it wasn't as if we had a choice back then…this is…" She huffed in annoyance. "You could have warned me."

"Didn't see the point, considering you've been up my ass since you got here…"

"This is a little different."

"Why?" Yang hissed. "You think I'm not able to run off naked?"

"I fail to see why you might do that…" Weiss clipped, biting back a much more vicious retort. "Even so, a little warning would have been the right thing to do."

"Not like the Grimm would care."

"I meant for me, you Neanderthal." Weiss stood off to the side.

"Not going anywhere, anyway." Yang finally bit out. "This is my home, so I've got no reason to run away."

"I'm going to go start some tea." Weiss replied, unwilling to think of what Yang was implying.

Then again, it was the same thing Yang had said before. She could hardly see how her friends could approve of this, how her old team could even allow this…but, this was Yang's life. As rough and deplorable as one might expect. Even Yang's shower accommodations were much to be desired. Boiled river water, poured into a barrel, with little more than a metal scoop as an apparatus to pour the water overhead.

It was a sight to behold. Weiss was thankful that Yang wasn't standing in mud, but rather a wooden crate that stood above the dirt, the water dripping down into the slats.

Weiss set fire to the wood that sat in the outdoor fire pit, drawing water from another barrel nearby used for cooking. Even from her position, she could hear Yang goading her.

"See what I mean?" Yang had laughed darkly over the splash of water. "You can't even look at it. Makes you sick, right?

"What makes you say that?" Weiss called back, still unwilling to actually go back behind the home once more.

"Eh, made me sick too, at first…"

Weiss sighed, raising her voice to be heard, making sure not to let her annoyance sink too far into her thoughts. "It's an injury, Yang." Stating the obvious dryly, she continued. "Healed over, smooth and unblemished thanks to your aura. It's hardly unheard of. I've got scars too."

"But you knew what was there." Yang replied. "You know what's gone…how much is gone…can't even look at me anymore, right?"

"You're naked…" Weiss added sharply. "This is hardly the time to be ogling your lack of appendage."

The splashing stopped, and the rustling of fabric came later. A drenched Yang came out covered in a tattered piece of cloth that clearly had once been a robe. It exposed for too much, and yet far too little, as the beaten fabric swayed back and forth on her voluptuous frame. "You don't have to make excuses. No use in that, really."

Rolling her eyes, Weiss stepped forward, pulling back the length of sleeve that had been ripped off at the edges. She wasn't blind, nor disillusioned about what she'd find. "Your aura cauterized the wound on sight. As it was supposed to." Weiss murmured softly. "You recovered well, your arm isn't a difficult thing to merely look at."

"It's not just the looking, it's the remembering." Yang explained. "Not going to blame you. Ruby couldn't do that either."

Weiss made something of a dejected noise as she stepped away. "It was an open wound back then. You can hardly hold it against her. I think I'd even have difficulty looking at it back then."

"She couldn't look at _me._ " Yang explained coldly. "Couldn't even look me in the eyes without crying…dunno why she kept trying to feed me all of those stupid lies about the team getting back together…finding you and Blake…making things right again…she couldn't bear to see how helpless I was…and let's not mince words…I was helpless, Weiss."

"I'd highly doubt that…" The shorter of them said she went back to tending the fire. "The infamous Yang Xiao Long earned her reputation because of her spirit, not her fists. At least, that's the story that echoes to the younger generation. They speak just as much about your mischief, Nora's doing, I'd presume."

Yang said nothing to that. She wouldn't give Weiss the pleasure of another fight.

…

The morning had whittled itself away slowly, and Yang was given far too much to think about.

So what if Nora was acting like an idiot? That was nothing new. It was a bad habit of theirs to follow along with Nora's antics. Hijinks aside, the girl was a very skilled fighter. Yang had no doubt that as a fully grown huntress, Nora was very much a deadly force that wouldn't be easily put down. This still didn't inspire Yang to move from her home, however.

Contrary to what Weiss believed, Yang truly did like living away from the civilized world. She hadn't been lying when she'd spoken to Oobleck those years ago. The conversation she shared in the firelight with her team had been true. She liked adventure. She liked not knowing what might come next. She didn't want to be tied down, and she sure as hell hated being told what to do. Forest life suited her, Grimm included.

That she just so happened to live near a bunch of them, or that they'd found her a suitable companion made no difference. She hurled a stone at one of the larger cubs that had taken an interest in her cast iron cooking pot. "Little shit…" She lifted her whiskey bottle to her lips, even as Weiss looked on, mortified.

"You just smacked an Ursa in the head with a stone…"

"So?"

Weiss shook her head. This went against all of the teachings. One of the smaller ones still found itself content to lay at Yang's feet, and there were several fully grown ones dotted along Yang's property. They were laying away the crimson colored day, as if they just couldn't be bothered to pay Weiss a bit of attention. She might as well be a worthless bug as she sat among them. "Need I remind you, we're currently sitting in the middle of a Grimm infestation?"

"Nevermores on the roof again too." Yang pointed out, causing Weiss to bristle. "That kid's still inside…don't ya think you out to be checking on her?"

"I would dare not open the door." Weiss countered.

Yang nodded, but set the booze bottle down. "You wanna hash it out? Fine, I'll hash it. Know what sucked the most?" She said with distant honesty. "Learning how to do everything all over again. Stupid little things were impossible. Dressing myself, or getting a shampoo bottle open so I could wash my hair. Do you realize how shitty it is to be nearly eighteen years old, needing your father to help you take a god damn bath?"

Weiss blinked back the shock of the confession. She hadn't expected Yang to say that much. "I've always had maids for that sort of thing…even in good health. I tended to find privacy was always a problem."

"Yeah, well, when you're used to being on your own, it sucks to have that taken away." Yang bit out, leaning forward to stir the stewpot. "You gotta figure, I get a new arm, it'll be like that all over again. Learning how to use it…they says it takes years for your brain to get used to it. Some people never get full use out of it…I didn't think I could take years of that…still don't think I could."

"You made it this far…"

"Wasn't by choice."

"Yang…" What could Weiss even say to that? Only the obvious…and that was just so off putting she hated even trying. "You wouldn't have to recover alone. If you wanted a prosthetic arm, all you would have to do is tell me. I would personally see to all of the arrangements. I'd make sure you had the best medical-"

"No."

Weiss took a breath and tried again. "It would be so much better for you."

"What you don't seem to understand, is what you're really asking me to do." Yang pulled her whiskey back into her lap. "You want me to upheave the only life I know how to live, just to fit your damn agenda. The new arm? That's just a ploy too. It's meaningless though, because you don't seem to get it. I'm not going back to being the person I was. I'm not going to accept a few years of being worthless again."

"Recovery is hardly being worthless." Weiss pulled a silver tube from her pocket. It was engraved in her initials, and from Yang's position, she could see that Weiss kept several more like it fastened to the inside of her jacket. "Recovery is an effort, a struggle. Anyone who says that an amputee is worthless for wishing to undergo a prosthetic surgery, are themselves worthless. A person like that obviously fails to understand the tribulations such a thing can cause."

"I refuse to consider myself a…" Yang didn't even want to say the word, so she didn't. "Fuck, I hate when you talk like that…"

"Part of your arm was removed from your body. You can refuse to admit it all you want, Yang, but so long as you insist on being blunt, so shall I." Weiss took her time unscrewing the top to that elegant chamber. She gently pulled the cigar out from its protective chamber. She cut it expertly, and rolled it gently between her fingers in consideration. "I wouldn't be out here if I thought you worthless, or a waste of my time. If I called you helpless, I'd be remiss, because you certainly do well enough for yourself."

"I can live my life the way I do now…I'm not dead…that's good enough."

"Which exactly why I'd rather think you were helpless." Weiss countered as she lit the fine tobacco product, imported from the far out-reaches of Vale. "It's better than calling you a louse."

"A _what_?"

"You heard me…"

Yes…she very much did…and there was something about that insult, like lightning, that struck her more than a battle scar ever could.


End file.
